This invention relates specifically to a laterally stable corrugated plastic water craft, and to those water crafts specifically formed from a single unitary sheet of corrugated plastic material comprising a plurality of planar walls conjoined by a plurality of elongate channel defining ribs, wherein the hull's exterior surface includes a plurality of openings located between the craft's bow end and aft end.
There are a number of light-weight foldable boats available. Many of the commercially available light-weight boats that have a number of disadvantages. One of the major disadvantages to these boats is the number of pieces required to assemble the light-weight boat. In addition to the number of pieces required to assemble the light-weight boat, many fasteners or adhesives are necessary to hold the boat in its final assembled position. When the boat is disassembled the adhesives or fasteners must be removed to unassembled the boat. Another disadvantage of the light-weight foldable boats are available, is that these boats do not offer generally provide lateral stability, and can actually give a user a sense of vertigo if the person tries to walk from the aft end of the bow end.
In a water craft made from 10 mil corrugated plastic, where; the 10 mil describes the channels' wall thickness; there are approximately 64 individual flute channels located in a 27″ wide water craft's floor. Each individual flute channel's dimension is approximately 0.35 inch by 0.42 inch. Within an enclosed flute channel, a body of air between two bodies of fluid will take more time to assimilate and then flow, as when compared to only one body of fluid. This condition may be defined here as a randomly moving air pocket which creates slight turbulence within the water's flow by just the very presence of the body of air between the two bodies of fluid. When the flow of these bodies of fluid, and air, and then fluid are only moved by gravity, and a passenger's weight load upon the floor's fluid displacement mass, and the environment's surrounding fluid air pressure, the flow's speed is additionally affected by the enclosed channel's elongate dimensional length. In a water craft made from corrugated plastic turbulence of a randomly moving air pockets may be taking place in up to 64 different enclosed channels at the same time, and so gives even more importance to a quicker purging of any air pockets within the channels; and where timing is everything to retain a more consistent uniform lateral stability.
In a water craft formed from corrugated plastic, the craft's weight is around ten to fourteen pounds, or next to nothing as when compared to most water crafts. As a passenger steps toward the bow, the bow quickly sinks beneath the waterline, and so traps air within the flute channels to form one or more air pockets, or possibly 64 total air pockets as previously described. The air pockets then randomly flow back and forth between the craft's bow and stern. As the passenger steps back toward the stern, the multiple and randomly flowing air pockets may be just beneath their next foot step.
Any constant change between good lateral stability and less lateral stability can quickly create a beginning point of confusion of balance for the passenger; and where any over-correction or mistaken move to correct their balance may tend to escalate until all balance is lost. In aeronautical terms, it may be comparatively described as vertigo; or a situation where a pilot loses all their conscious senses of their known coordinates or bearings of balance and or location.
Timing is everything as a standing passenger waits for all air pockets to escape, and for the flute channels to re-fill before regaining the previous degree of lateral standing stability. Gravity propelled fluid takes time to travel. Gravity propelled fluids with turbulence creating air pockets between take even more time to travel. Both fluids with air between, or fluids without air between will take longer to purge any air pockets when the channels extend the entire length of a water craft's floor.
Therefore, there is an ongoing need for light weight, one piece, foldable boat having uniform lateral stability.